


Prodding the Past

by PromisedAngel



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Comfort No Hurt, Conversations, Gen, Past Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 10:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17262602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PromisedAngel/pseuds/PromisedAngel
Summary: The day after Kris and her initial adventure, Susie once more ventures into the Dark World. With promise of cake, she stumbles into Ralsei's home, where he's determined to dig into the root of her issues. Her past. Raffled request from Not-A-Heathen-Potato on Tumblr.





	Prodding the Past

Susie grumbled to herself, “Damnit, Kris.”  
It was still morning, on a Saturday no less. Yet, unlike many of her peers, Susie had been up for hours. She sat in the grasses near the entrance to the school, empty of children and adults. Since yesterday, one promise hung in her mind, ‘Let’s go back there tomorrow, alright?’. With a nod and a smile in response, the promise was set. Susie sighed, maybe she overthought this and arrived too early? Maybe Kris was still asleep? She shrugged and growled in frustration. She was getting impatient.

She stood tall and scoffed, “Tsk, I’m not waiting any longer. They can catch up.”  
Susie approached the entrance to the school. The door was unlocked, it opened with a simple turn of the knob. She smirked; they forgot to unlock it after she and Kris strolled out of the Dark World. She closed the door behind her and strolled to the back of the school. Her eyes dead set on one particular room; the supply closet linked to the abandoned classroom.

A doubt floated to the surface as she drew closer to the closet. Would she even be able to enter the Dark World without Kris? They’d only gone once, but it was together. Susie remembered many trips to the closet for a snack, yet no Dark World. Or… was the path now open because she and Kris fell into it? She scratched her head. She remembered the extra dark fountain. Maybe it was that. Damn overthinking. She knew she had to stop.  
Susie reached the closet with ease. She hesitated, her hand just over the knob. She turned back towards the entrance of the school. Part of her wished Kris was there, opening the door. But there was no one. Not an adult, and certainly not Kris. She couldn’t wait any longer. She roughly opened the door to the same darkness she saw before. What was once met with hesitation, she strutted forth confidently. She closed the door behind her. Darkness engulfed her vision. She could spot no walls, nor any nearby items on the floor. Just like before.

She walked. Step by step. She noticed her steps went far longer than the closet would have let her. Was it working? She couldn’t tell in this darkness. She didn’t pause. After what seemed like hours, she could see a low light peak in the distance. Her eyes lit with determination. Her calm strut instantly changed to a swift dash. Slowly but surely, the light grew. It seemed to peek through leaves and branches. She pushed the branches aside and stepped out.

The area was familiar. The luminescent purple grasses and bushes. The pink trees and path. She’d traversed this field just yesterday. The question was, where in this field was she? A quick thought entered her mind; she looked over herself. She was in the same outfit as yesterday. Spiked armbands. The purple sleeveless shirt and black sleeveless overcoat. The lighter purple pants. It was all familiar to her. She paused. No axe. She shrugged; she’d probably see it soon enough.

She began to walk once more. Most of the inhabitants she saw yesterday were docile or far off. Still, Susie kept her guard up as she walked. She rounded a corner to see a hathy and a rudinn. They had their weapons out. A patrol. The pair quickly spotted Susie. The rudinn called out to her in shock, “Hey!”  
Susie readied herself. Her axe faithfully appeared in her hands. The hathy readied themselves as well. The rudinn took a step back, “W-wait a minute! We’re not your enemies, I swear!”  
Susie scoffed as she held her axe on her back, “Then why are your weapons out?”  
The rudinn continued at a break-neck pace, “We were just patrolling! There’s still a lot of Darkners who think the king’s still in power! Prince Lancer ordered us to spread the word of his father’s defeat!”  
Susie relaxed at Lancer’s name. She smirked, “Oh, so you guys were sent by Lancer? How’s the little evildoer doing?”  
The hathy replied, “Not any evil at all! He’s… come up with strange new rules and um… the throne room has a lot of holes now…”  
Susie fully relaxed. Her axe disappeared. She went neutral, “Cool. I’m gonna go see him.”  
The rudinn replied nervously, “I’m… sorry, Hero Susie. He’s very busy today, with the changing of power and all.”  
Susie scoffed, “C’mon! It’s been a day! How busy could he be?”  
The hathy spoke bluntly, “He’s trying to shove all the paperwork he has to do into holes. Rouxls Kaard is currently teaching him the rules of Lancer’s…. well… rule.”  
Susie muttered under her breath, “Damn teachers.”

The rudinn perked up, “But, we’ve been given instructions from Hero Ralsei!”  
“What does he want?”  
“He wanted you and Hero Kris to meet at his home. He said… something about a promise of cake?”  
Susie snickered. The last words she heard from Ralsei echoed in her mind. She laughed, “That furball wasn’t kidding, huh?”  
The rudinn gave a look of confusion, “Um… where is… Hero Kris, anyway?”  
Susie shrugged, “I waited for them, but they never showed. They’re probably not far behind me. Just uh… keep looking! And send ‘em our way when you find them!”  
The rudinn and hathy stood in attention. They scrambled out a ‘yes, ma’am!’ before they scurried off. Susie stood there silently. Her hand curled into a tight fist for a few moments. She scoffed, “Ma’am, huh? Tsk. Never heard that before.”

———————————————————————————————

Susie trudged through the Dark World westward until she came across the familiar sight of the empty town Ralsei’s castle dwelled. No longer was this town empty, however. A few Darkners seemed to now inhabit, or at least begin to consider inhabiting the empty homes. Once Susie entered the town, she was quickly noticed by the populous. They cried out her name, “Hero Susie!” many of them cried out in jubilation. Some gave a silent bow to her. Yet no one approached, all but one. This young Darkner smiled, “Hero Susie! Prince Ralsei’s been waiting for your and Hero Kris’s arrival!”  
They raised a brow, “Where is-“  
Susie huffed, “Seriously? I have to explain this again? Kris is running late, so I’m here now and they’ll show up later.”  
She muttered, “I hate repeating myself.”  
The Darkner gave a nervous laugh, “Is that so? Well, worry not! We’ll be more than happy to let Hero Kris know where to find you and Prince Ralsei!”  
Susie began to walk once more with a scoff, “Pretty hard to miss the giant castle in the back of town, y’know.”  
A few chuckles echoed from the crowd, but no more Darkners deigned to stop Susie or speak to her again. Instead, the crowd began to gossip on how they all ‘met’ one of the heroes. Susie tensed as she walked. Heroes… it still felt strange.

The courtyard was as plain as yesterday. The large door now guarded by two heavily armored Darkners, so much so Susie couldn’t make out their details. The two silently opened the doors for her. In front was a dusty hallway, years of neglect and care appeared obvious. The hallway was lined with portraits of various Darkners. Susie didn’t pay any mind to them, instead, she continued down the hallway along the dusty carpet. At the end of the hallway was a fork. A sign was put on the opposing wall. Susie read aloud, “Go left! I’ll be waiting in the garden! If you’re early, the kitchen is just before the garden!”  
Susie’s stomach growled at the thought of a kitchen. A castle kitchen. Ralsei might have been alone, but the kitchen was have been fully stocked for him to actually survive. Susie continued down the left hallway until a scent caught her attention. Chocolate. Vanilla. Baked goods. The scents emanated from a door on the right side. She creaked the door open and was hit with a wave of heat and the smell of fresh baked goods. She began to drool heavily.

Inside, she saw a large kitchen. Ovens were full of a batch of sugary sweets while another batch sat on cooling racks on a nearby counter. Across the kitchen, Susie saw Ralsei without his hat. He was stirring and mixing something while pleasantly humming to himself. Unaware of her presence. Susie slowly slunk into the kitchen and walked towards the cooling cakes. She dug her claws into one and began to noisily chomp it. After a few bites, she noticed the confection was still piping hot. She yelped out in surprise. Ralsei gasped and finally noticed Susie. He exclaimed in a panic, “Did you eat those?! I just got them out of the oven!”  
He rushed over to a cabinet and got a glass cup. He quickly dashed to a sink nearby Susie and turned the water on. He began to fill the cup with water, “D-don’t worry! I’ll help!”  
Susie approached the sink, her mouth still full of cake. She pushed the glass cup out of the water’s flow and stuck her mouth under the sink. Slowly but surely, she drank. The cake in her mouth wetted and cooled. After many large gulps, Susie let out a satisfied ‘ah’ noise and shut off the sink. While Susie was busy with her drink, Ralsei looked over at the cake Susie had dug into. Literally. Large claw marks dug to the bottom of the cake, in the middle of it. Ralsei bemoaned, “I was going to frost all these cakes… at least it was only one…”  
Susie recovered with a smile, “Yeah! That cake’s not bad, Ralsei!”  
Ralsei beamed, “I’m glad you remembered my name!”  
He frowned, “But, you should have said you were here! I could have warned you about the cakes!”  
Susie shrugged, “What’s the deal? I ate some cake and got some water, no problem.”

Ralsei sighed. He decided to let the subject go. He calmly spoke, “I’m glad you’re here. You’re just much… earlier than I expected.”  
“Yeah, well, Kris is some ways behind, so I guess you can have all those frosted cakes for them.”  
Ralsei scratched his cheek, “I was… planning for more than cakes. I was going to make us a good lunch together. I… I remember you said something about ham sandwiches?”  
Susie’s face lit up, “Dude, you were gonna do all that?!”  
Ralsei nodded, “It’s the least I can do! You and Kris are great heroes after all… even if it took you a while to embrace it!”  
Susie scoffed, “C’mon! You're supposed to be one of these heroes, too!”  
Rasei blushed. He went to grab his hat but found it not on his head. Instead, he put his hands to his cheeks to hide the blush, “I… I mean I suppose… but I… I’m just a prince with no subjects… well… I don’t know. Some Darkners mentioned the possibility of moving to my village…”  
“Yeah. It’s only been a day and it seems like a lot is starting to change. Lancer’s stuck playing king. The Darkners aren’t picking fights they can’t win.”  
Ralsei gave a nervous laugh, “Well, Lancer and I have tried our best to spread the word so that you and Kris don’t get attacked. Or any other Lightners that would come here.”

He changed the subject, “Well since Kris is coming later, we can have some cake and wait for them in the garden! Thank goodness I set the table very early! Go ahead and have a seat while I make us something to drink. Um… I guess we can snack on the cake you already tasted."  
Susie began to walk out of the kitchen, “Go ahead, don’t need to get fancy on my account! I eat stuff like chalk as a snack!”  
Ralsei stood there bewildered as she left. He quietly asked, “Chalk?”  
Susie had already left. He had no response. He sighed before he picked up the bowl of near-finished frosting he had been working on.

————————————————————————————

Susie existed the kitchen and turned towards a large, duel-door exit. The doors had some heft, but they were no match for her strength. She opened the doors to a brick path lined with delicately trimmed flowerbeds. Susie paused. She was both impressed and concerned at the scale of this garden. Thick bushes of various flowers lined the walls of the castle. The flowerbeds along the path had gentle colors and were smaller in size. In between, flowers were planted into shapes. Some hearts. Some diamonds. Some spades. And some clubs. As she walked deeper along the path, the garden became more natural, but not untamed. She found herself walking to a small brick area with a table next to a little pond. The table was set for three with plenty of space to put the many treats Ralsei had planned. Susie sat down at the table, slightly uncomfortable at the masses of flowers around her.

A few minutes passed in silence. She heard footsteps approach. Her head turned to see Ralsei lightly jog towards her with a tray. It held a full tea set with three cups. Susie raised a brow as Ralsei set the tray down, “Is that tea?”  
Ralsei smiled and nodded, “Yes! Tea and cake is always a good combination!”  
Susie spoke bluntly, “I don’t like tea.”  
Ralsei gave a worried look, “Oh! I’m sorry! I should have asked! Um… I think I have some coffee around somewhere.”  
Susie nodded, “Yeah, that’ll do. You uh… sure you don’t need any help?”  
Ralsei shook his head vigorously with a nervous expression, “Nope! I’m sure I have this all handled!”  
Susie crossed her arms and replied dryly, “Doesn’t sound like it.”  
Ralsei sighed and slouched over, defeated, “I… I just wanted to make everyone a nice lunch and… well… have a chance to just talk and relax and… not have to worry about defeating evil and such…”  
Susie snickered, “You dork.”  
Ralsei huffed, “I’m serious!”  
“I know, that’s why it’s funny!”  
Ralsei stomped off, “I’ll be back with the coffee and cake!”  
Susie blinked before she rubbed the back of her head, “Guessed I pushed his buttons too hard.”  
She frowned, “No surprise there.”

Another few minutes passed before Ralsei returned with another tray. This time another pot with one simple cup sat on the tray. Accompanying the coffee was a stack of three plates and the ruined cake with a light layer of frosting. Ralsei set the tray down and smiled. He spoke with a bit of breath to catch, “Th-thanks for waiting so long!”  
Susie took the cup and pot of coffee. She spoke as she poured herself a cup, “Man, for a prince you got to do everything around here.”  
Ralsei sat down in the chair across from her with a sigh, “Yeah, but I’m used to being on my own. It’s been this way for a long time.”  
He chuckled, “I only got this frazzled because I wasn’t expecting you so soon! but, I’m sure Kris can’t be too far behind! Then I can make those sandwiches!”  
He went to cut the cake, “But, we have this cake in the meantime! And now it had some frosting!”  
“It was fine without the frosting.”  
Ralsei cut a piece and plated it in front of Susie, “It’ll be even better with it!”  
Susie sighed before she tried some of the cake and frosting. The frosting was smooth, not able to chill from it’s rushed preparation. Still, the thin coat did give another bit of flavor that Susie did notice. She spoke, “Well… it didn’t make it worse…”  
Ralsei frowned, “Well… that works… I didn’t have time to chill it.”

Ralsei was quick to change the topic as he began to eat his own slice of cake, “Um… what’s the Lightner’s world like?”  
Susie raised a brow, “Wow. That’s a big question out of nowhere.”  
“You don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.”  
Susie took a swig of her coffee. Decent stuff, better than she was used to. She rolled her eyes, “Nah. The only difference is that we have a blue sky and a big yellow orb for light.”  
Ralsei smiled, “Ah, yes! The fabled ‘sun’ I believe!”  
“Yep. But, it still gets dark sometimes. Not as dark as here, though.”  
“That’s so interesting that the Lightner world is capable of such change.”  
“It’s nothing special. Most just go to sleep when it’s dark.”  
Ralsei seemed disappointed, “Oh… I see.”

Ralsei adjusted his glasses, “What about you? Do you sleep during the dark?”  
“Yep. Kris does, too. These are weird questions. Why do you want to know?”  
“Well, I just want to get to know you two. That’s all.”  
“Not much to know about me. You’ve seen a lot of what I am.”  
Ralsei beamed, “Yes! And how you are capable of great change in yourself!”  
Susie chuckled darkly, “That was only for our adventure. I can’t change.”  
Ralsei’s expression dropped. He set his cup of tea down and spoke seriously, “Susie. I watched you go from a disinterested hero, to a rambunctious villain, to an earnest heroine! I’m sure you could change anything about your life just as easily.”  
Susie scoffed, “Like how you all could change how you’re stuck in the dark?”  
Ralsei frowned, “Well…”  
Susie smirked and relaxed back in her chair, “Yeah. That’s something you can’t change. There’s some things you just can’t change, y’know.”  
“From what you said, your world is already capable of so much change. What could you possibly not be able-“  
Susie lightly slammed a fist on the table, “Shut up!”  
Ralsei curled inward with an apologetic face. Susie growled, “Why the hell does a fur ball like you think he has to know everything about me?!”  
Ralsei replied quietly, “I just wanted to connect with you two more…”  
A few tears escaped Ralsei’s eyes. Susie gave a distressed look. Her muscles relaxed slightly as Ralsei let loose a few sniffles. He asked, “Why do you have to be so mean? I just wanted to be your friend…”

Susie slunk back into her chair. The two were silent, save for Ralsei’s quiet sobs as he recovered. Susie’s fists tightened for a moment before they relaxed. She sighed, “You really won’t stop prodding.”  
Ralsei began to wipe away his tears. Susie locked eyes with him with a serious look, “Fine. If it’ll get you to shut up, I’ll talk. But you’ll never say a word of this to Kris _or_ Lancer. Got it?”  
Ralsei nodded. A small smile shined from behind his hands as they wiped away the last of his tears.

Susie folded her arms on her chest after another drink of coffee. She started slow, “I guess if you want to blame anyone you could blame my parents. They always weren’t the kindest when I was growing up. Actually, they weren’t there much at all. Then, when I was about ten, they got busted for being the ringleaders in a huge multi-town drug ring. Turned out they’ve been doing this since before I was born.”  
Ralsei’s expression dropped as Susie continued, “So, I was left alone. Went from foster home to foster home. Not many gave me a chance, and when the parents did, the kids or neighbors didn’t. I fought back against their jeers. Sometimes through shouting or intimidation. Other times…”  
She smirked, “Well, y’know how tough I am.”  
Ralsei gave a small nod. Susie poured herself another cup of coffee with a frown, “Kept getting in trouble and having to move. Dunno how much longer I got in my current town. I don’t even bother with the names anymore. Much easier to push nameless people away from you.”  
Susie set her cup down and gave a gaff, “Yeah. Why would anyone want to be my friend anyway? Soon as word spreads about my parents and situation, that’s all they’ll think of me. They all look at me like a bully and a criminal. So… might as well just give ‘em what they want.”

Ralsei shook his head vigorously, “But you don’t have to!”  
Susie raised a brow as Ralsei professed, “You don’t have to give them what they want! You don’t have to fit the way people look at you!”  
Susie scoffed, “Easier said than done, fuzzball.”  
Ralsei’s arm swept the area around him, “Well, what about what you’ve accomplished down here? Everyone here knows you’re a hero! Not a criminal! Me, Kris, Lancer, we’re all you’re friends! And we know you can be whoever you want to be, not what others think of you!”

Susie felt a small knot in her chest. Her mind somehow drifted to her fight with Lancer yesterday. How he distraughtly asked if they were still friends after that fight. How the two bonded as evildoers. How he looked up to her. She paused. Maybe Ralsei had a point. Susie smirked, “Yeah. Maybe I’ll move down here when that town kicks me out. Just disappear, y’know?”  
Ralsei gave a nervous laugh, “That’s not where I was going with that… but it’s a start. I’m sure there’s something you can do to get other Lightners to change their minds about you.”  
Ralsei beamed, “You’re headstrong and sometimes you can be a little scary, but I think you’re a nice person, Susie!”  
Susie downed another cup off coffee before she replied with a smirk, “At least someone believes in me.”

Ralsei looked over towards the garden path, “Hey… it’s been a while since you got here, right?”  
Susie frowned, “Yeah, why?”  
Ralsei looked back at Susie with concern, “I… I wonder what’s keeping Kris. This is nice, but I wish they were part of this, too.”  
“You better keep your mouth shut about what I told you, got it?”  
Ralsei nodded, “Of course, Susie! I promise!”


End file.
